Road Untraveled
Empire of War In the illustrious empire of Wano, within its main castle walls, was a single man seated in his office. Despite the grandeur of the castle, his own office was very simple, reflecting his personality clearly. All he required was an organized desk, chair, and easy access to refreshments and storage space. The man at the centre of the Black Widow Empire, and the centre of all of its administration: Kosaka Isshin. He was a Pirate of phenomenal power who had been reduced to doing desk work for a living. It was difficult for others to explain, but he was perfectly content with the occupation he held. It was necessary sacrifices such as these that allowed the Black Widow Pirates to achieve their goals. At the same time, he was lost in thought. "Just why did Koyuki need to go to El Dorado..?" Isshin sighed. It had been a long time since he was left alone on Wano. Likewise, it had been a long time since he had engaged in a battle worth his time. Most that tried to travel to Wano's soil ended up submitting themselves to the Black Widow Pirates merely to survive. Very few had the strength to face them in a battle, after all. That said, if rumours had already leaked of the Captain's departure, along with some of her strongest subordinates, danger could very well rear its head today... The sound of panting could be heard outside Isshin's door, and before the messenger even walked in, Isshin's eyes were laid on the door. A slam, and a messenger was drenched in sweat and dirt as he made his way in front of Isshin. "What happened? Report." Isshin asked quickly, not wanting to waste the soldier's time. "THERE'S AN INVASION SIR! T-THE BLACK BLADE, BIMORE O. JACK HAS INVADED WANO!!" Isshin's eyes widened at the news and he immediately walked out of his office. "Alert the other Black Widow Pirates immediately. I'm moving out to apprehend the Shichibukai. Reinforce our security across the border and ensure no other World Government units are sailing near our waters." Isshin had already left the room as the soldier saluted the senior officer and made his way to the communications room. The once serious and apathetic Isshin had a small smirk across his face. Was he excited at the prospect of battle, or was there something else scheming in the Izanami's mind? ---- The storms around Wano Country were known for their ferocity, the sea unrelenting as any ships approaching it were thrown across razor-sharp rocks. But that was on a normal day. Storms raged around the island of Wano, rapid and fierce. Yet these perpetual storms were weakening, waning as their power was quelled. The storms that had raged around the island for centuries had for once gone silent. The breeze softly flowed across the sea as a man walked forward, traversing the surface of the water as easily as if it was solid concrete. A sword lay across his hip and across his back, two treasured weapons that had rested within his grasp. Bimore O. Jack had decided to grace Wano with his presence. Leg's decision to invade the island of El Dorado herself was a gutsy move, and one that he was here to punish her for. Wolfgang was off rampaging three days off, and even the one person who could allow the Widows to successfully challenge Jack had followed his empress across the sea to the far off-island. A whistling sound could be heard, the soft tune permeating the skies around the warlord, easily audible over the roar of the waterfall as Jack began to slowly walk up the raging rapids. It was only a matter of time until he reached the top, and neither hell nor high water was going to be able to stop him. Alarms and alerts. Fischer’s brain was bombarded by dozens of them a day, one of the downsides of being connected to...well his entire network. But he usually didn’t pay attention to them, there weren’t many that couldn’t just be pushed off on someone else, anyway. The alert that flashed before his eyes now was one of them: Intruder Alert Identification: Bimore O. Jack. Shichibukai. Bounty: 211,000,000. Frozen. Threat Level: Alpha. “Well, that...is not good. Connecting to P.Y.T.H.I.A.” He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, opening his mind fully to the large collection of machines, computers and robots that were the security system of the Black Widow Empire. He felt his own humanity fading into the background as he became more machine for the time being, "Assessing Combatants within Empire...assessing...assessing. Highest ranked individual: Kosaka Isshin. Alerting messengers to mobilize Kosaka Isshin.” "Activating Tartarus Protocol.” The screens all around Maida Vale notified all workers and citizens within the island to initiate safety manoeuvres, everyone moving calmly to their designated safe zones. The island then shifted in its place...before lifting wholly from the sea. Water fell off it in torrents as it rose into the sky. The artificial island rose high into the air and stopped a moment before moving forward, in the direction of Wano proper. Soon enough, Jack would notice the sky above him darken, the sun eclipsed by the mass of the flying island. "Black Blade Jack." Fischer’s voice echoed down from the body of the island, mechanical and detached "You are trespassing within the territory of the Black Widow Pirates. As such, you will be met with lethal force." Hatches along the hull of the island opened and released a large mass of swarming drones. The drones took up a dome formation with the Shichibukai at the centre, the machines glowing with soft energy before releasing beams of light. The beams wove between the drones, forming a large hemispherical net around the male, effectively trapping him within its confines "Tartaros Protocol successfully deployed." Meanwhile, a solitary drone flew beside Isshin, projecting a holographic image of Fischer "Isshin." The bluenette spoke in the same deadpan, mechanical voice he had used for the Shichibukai "You’re looking far too pleased at this development...no matter, Blade Thief. Please deal with the threat expediently. I tend to lose myself if I am connected for too long. And I must stay connected to effectively contain the destruction with Tartaros." "Fischer, you of all people should know that something like this can't do much more than just slow me down." Jack calmly announced as a hemisphere of light separated him from the sky while the sandy shoreline lay beneath his feet. "I'll give you ten seconds before I start blowing your toys out of the sky, I'm on a schedule here, and I'd rather not be late." The swordsman held a completely relaxed pose as he leaned back, waiting to hear the response. "Things here will get a whole lot bloodier if I'm late, and neither of us wants that," Jack added almost as an afterthought as he waited for the response. "Au contraire, Black Blade." Fischer's voice echoed around Jack again, though now a bit of Fischer's haughty arrogance bled through the mechanical droll "This cage was designed to contain even the likes of Legs, should she decide to go on a rampage. You are well and truly trapped." The hologram beside Isshin had conveyed the words for Jack as well, though finished talking solely to the First Mate "For the moment at least. I'll inform you that Tartaros wasn't designed for the long term and I doubt he'll wait idly for you to show." An emotion flickered across Fischer's face, resembling annoyance, but it was gone in an instant "So if you could move your ass just a smidge faster, it would be much appreciated." "I think you'll find that the manner in which your dear Empress and I are destructive are quite different. I guess we'll see when I leave this barrier just how well it holds up. That being said, Isshin was on my list of people that I needed to visit while I was here. Since you're probably just stalling to buy him time to get here, I might as well just wait." The warlord shrugged as he sat down on the sandy beach. "Tell him he has five minutes before I start moving again. I think that's more than fair." Isshin didn't need Fischer to relay the message from Jack to understand the urgency of the message. He nodded at Fischer's understanding of his psyche and simply sighed. "As a Samurai, even I like to fight sometimes, Fischer." He merely spoke dismissively as he began to dash towards Jack's location. He had closed his eyes and awoken his mind's eye, and with it, dodged every obstacle and found the shortest path to his goal. He began to break through the obstacles and ran with all of his speed, knowing full well that he'll reach his goal in time. After forcing almost every resident of Wano to part the streets for him as they made their evacuation procedures, Isshin appeared at the place where he could sense the murderous intent of Jack. As he stopped moving, Isshin instantly had his hand placed on the hilt of his blade. The Black Blade was not here to play, and Isshin could sense that. "Ah... The man of the hour has arrived, though he looks so dour." Jack commented with a more serious tone than his choice of words would bring to mind. The swordsman stood up from his place in the center of the swirling ball of light. He leaned back non-chalantly, his stance loose and his weapons still sheathed. "Had you been any longer I would have started to take apart Fischer's toys." "But I guess I will just state why I am here, after all, there is no need to mince words" The warlord shrugged as he began to stretch out his shoulders in plain view, almost as if he was unaware or uncaring about the dangers of where the Black Blade stood. But why should he? He had already beaten one of the Widow's top executives, and she was too far away to intervene before the warlord was long gone. Isshin was the only man on the island who could hope to repel him, and the warlord was more than confident he could handle it. Even as he stood up, the air began coalescing about him, disturbing the sand and the warlord stood in a sea of churning sand whipping about his feet. Jack gave an almost sad smile as he stared upon the thief of blades, "It's been decided that the world can no longer afford to let the Yonko hold on to the Road Poneglyphs. And I have been asked to confiscate it."